The tallest tree in the Amazon.. 88 meters high

Giant tree Denisia excelsa.

AFP

After three years of planning, expeditions and a two-week trek in the jungle, a team of scientists has arrived at the largest tree ever discovered in the Amazon rainforest, the size of a 25-storey building.

The giant tree, whose summit rises above the canopy in the Irataburu River Nature Reserve in northern Brazil, is of the Denisia excelsa type, with a height of 88.5 meters and a diameter of 9.9 meters.

Scientists first spotted it through satellite imagery in 2019, and then a local team, including researchers, environmentalists and guides, tried to reach it during the same year.

After a 10-day trip in rough terrain, the team was forced to return, after its members were tired, with a limited amount of food in their possession, in addition to one of them falling ill.

Three other expeditions in the remote Jari Valley, on the border between the states of Amapá and Para, gave access to a plethora of other giant trees, including the largest Brazil nut ever seen in the Amazon, with a height of 66 metres.

However, reaching the Denisia excelsa tree was not achieved until the expedition organized between 12 and 25 September last, in which the researchers crossed 250 kilometers by boat, and more than 20 kilometers by walking through the mountain forest.

Forest engineer Diego Armando Silva of the Federal University of Amapá said getting to the tree was worth the adventure.

"It's one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life," he said.

The group took samples that will be analyzed to obtain information about the tree, most notably its age (according to Silva's predictions of 400 to 600 years), and the amount of carbon it stores.

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